Canandaigua Airport gets state grant

Friday

Sep 20, 2013 at 12:07 PM

By Scott Pukosspukos@messengerpostmedia.com

CANANDAIGUA — After receiving multiple federal grants this summer, the Canandaigua Airport was awarded a $428,000 New York state grant Thursday to install a jet fuel tank and dispenser, Governor Andrew Cuomo stated in a release.

The grant — from the state’s 2013-14 Transit and Aviation Capital Grants program — will cover most of the $475,000 cost of the tank. According to Mike Manikowski, executive director of the Ontario County Industrial Development Agency (IDA), the tank will be a cost-saver for the airport, and for the people who use the airport. He explained that the cost of purchasing “jet A” fuel, and storing it at the facility, is considerably cheaper than paying a truck to transport the gas to the airport at 2450 Brickyard Road in Canandaigua.

“A jet fueling facility will allow us to offer full service to the corporate community,” Manikowski said. He added that it will go a long way toward the goal of establishing more corporate headquarters and business operations in Ontario County.

In late August, the airport received three separate grants from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) totaling more than $200,000.

The state money is part of $48 million in grants awarded throughout New York designed to improve transportation, Cuomo said.

“We are making targeted investments that will improve transportation systems across the state, provide the foundation for future economic development, and create jobs,” Cuomo said in a statement. “This funding will modernize aviation facilities, improve the speed of freight and passenger transit, and build cleaner and safer networks of transportation.”

Unrelated to the recent grants, a $7.9 million project to extend the main runway from 3,200 to 5,500 feet is 95 percent complete, Manikowski said.